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Peyton Manning upbeat, responds to Richard Sherman's "duck" comments

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Relaxed and upbeat, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning addressed the media Thursday morning for the final time before Sunday's Super Bowl against the Seattle Seahawks.

Manning even lobbed a good-natured shot back at Richard Sherman, Seattle's star cornerback, who recently wrote that Manning is prone to throwing "ducks."

A few weeks ago, Sherman, a part-time columnist for MMQB.com, listed the five smartest quarterbacks in the NFL. Manning was his No. 1 choice, especially when it comes to making adjustments and play calls at the line of scrimmage.

"Nobody else has both the authority to do that within their offense and the understanding to know when it's appropriate," Sherman wrote on Jan 3.

"His arm, however, is another story," he wrote. "His passes will be accurate and on time, but he throws ducks."

Thursday morning, Manning playfully responded.

"I believe it to be true as well," he said with a big smile. "I don't think that's a real reach, what he's saying. I've thrown a lot of yards and touchdowns with ducks. I'm actually quite proud of it."

In other words, Manning doesn't think he throws lame ducks.

Broncos tight end end Julius Thomas said it didn't matter how Sherman described Manning's passes.

"I didn't know that he had made that comment," Thomas said. "Whichever animal or word you want to use to describe Peyton's passes, I'll take them every day. Whether that be duck, goose, cat passes, I'll continue taking them."

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Manning left the media laughing again with his response when asked to name his top three quarterbacks of all time.

The quarterback also said he was pleased with Wednesday's practice, in which the Broncos donned full pads, and he said he's confident the Broncos are in the right mind-set for Sunday's game.

"There is no question that the past two wins (in the playoffs) have been team wins," Manning said. "The only way you can win a world championship is if all three phases are playing at a high level.

"We will get into specific game situations at (Thursday's) practice and work on that. I thought yesterday was a good practice and we can feed off of that. And Friday's practice will be as important as Wednesday's and Thursday's."